corporate tax

The abolition of the dividend tax will definitely not happen, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced after a coalition meeting on Monday evening. The government and the coalition parties reconsidered and decided to definitively reverse the most controversial measure in the government agreement. "The fact is that support for this measure was limited", Rutte said after the meeting, NU.nl reports.

GroenLinks, SP and PvdA, the three largest left-wing parties in the Tweede Kamer, together presented an alternative budget that puts "people above multinationals" on Wednesday. They call for more investments in society and in the "livelihood of all Dutch people", Het Parool reports.

American companies are investing less and less in the Netherlands. This is mainly due to tax reforms in the United States - president Donald Trump reduced corporation tax significantly, making it more attractive for American companies to invest in their own country. But the Rutte III government's planned crackdown on shell companies may also play a role, NOS reports.

American companies settling in Europe are increasingly opting for a country other than the Netherlands. "The Netherlands is not automatically the first choice anymore", Patrick Mikkelsen, director of AmCham, the American Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, said to newspaper AD.

The Americans are critical of the Dutch business climate and believe that the Netherlands should implement changes quickly. Criticisms include high corporate tax in the Netherlands, and planned changes to a favorable tax regulation for expats.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Netherlands on Wednesday, in the run-up to a European sumit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. He emphasized the strong bond between the Netherlands and France, but criticized the Dutch policies on corporate tax and pulse fishing, NOS reports.

King Willem-Alexander received the French president in an official welcome ceremony at Noordeinde Palace, after which Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with him. The two heads of state then gave a press conference together.

The VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie are now really very almost done with their government agreement, ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers said to NOS on Friday afternoon. But he thinks the four parties will have to meet again on Monday.

There will be no meetings over the weekend. The ChristenUnie respects the Sunday rest. "And on Saturday I have other plans", Segers said to the broadcaster.

The Dutch government expects to make nearly 8 billion euros more on taxes and premiums than estimated on Budget Day last year, according to the Spring Memo sent to parliament by Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Thursday. The extra money mainly comes from VAT (€2.4 billion), corporate tax (€2.3 billion) and wage and income tax (€1.2 billion), NU.nl reports.

The Spring Memo shows the changes the government made since the budget was presented on Budget Day in September last year.

Dutch railway company NS is circumventing the Dutch Tax Authorities using its subsidiary Abellio in Ireland, Trouw reported on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Finance previously instructed NS to stop these tax evasion practices.

Abellio set up an Irish company called Disa Assets Limited late last year, according to documents from the Irish Chamber of Commerce. NS used this company to fund trains for a tender on the German track. According to the newspaper, the sole purpose of this new subsidiary is to pay as little tax as possible.

The national deficit went up to €9.4 billion in the first half of 2014. This is €5.1 billion higher than the same period last year, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS). According to the CBS, this rise is because telecom frequency auctions, which started in 2013, are now dropping away.